The sunlight dancing through the window felt warmer than usual as Hanyuan finally regained consciousness. Every inch of his body felt as though it had been scoured with iron wool, but his mind was strangely clear. He slowly sat up, the sheets sliding off his chest.
Hanyuan chuckled hoarsely, rubbing his dry throat. "I'm lucky my meridians didn't melt right there on the floor."
His gaze shifted to the side table. There, reflecting the morning light with an ethereal, indigo glow, sat the small jade bottle. His heart hammered a frantic rhythm against his ribs. Elder Huo's warnings echoed in the silence of the room: "A pill like this,refined with stardust and dragon-blood ash,would fetch over a thousand merit points in the Inner Sect."
In Spirit Springs City, seventy spirit stones was a fortune. In the Outer Sect, a few hundred was a luxury. But a thousand? That was an amount reserved for those aiming to step into the Nascent Soul realm. And yet, the eccentric old alchemist had tossed it to him as if it were a simple snack.
"My talent... the very thing that held me back," Hanyuan muttered.
He didn't hesitate. He uncorked the bottle and tipped the pill onto his palm. It was surprisingly heavy and vibrated with a faint, crystalline hum. He swallowed it dry.
At first, there was only a cold trail down his throat. Then, silence.
Is it working? he wondered, his brow furrowing. Did the heat of the furnace damage the efficacy?
Suddenly, the world tilted. A soul tearing shriek erupted inside his mind. It felt as though a thousand spectral needles were being driven into the center of his forehead, pulling at the very fibers of his soul.
"A-AGH!"
Hanyuan's back arched until his spine groaned. Blood began to leak from his eyes and ears, staining the white sheets a horrific crimson. His vision flickered from absolute black to a blinding, star filled white. It felt as if his old, narrow potential was being forcibly stretched, the Potential in his Body being shattered and reformed with a hammer made of starlight.
Then, just as the pain became truly unbearable, it vanished.
A wave of warmth, smelling of winter mint and ozone, washed through his body. The agonizing tension in his brain dissolved into a blissful, silent clarity. Hanyuan slumped against the wall, his chest heaving, his robes soaked in sweat and blood.
"Did it... work?"
He immediately entered a meditative state. He reached out to the surrounding Qi, and his obsidian eyes flew open. He didn't even have to try. The spiritual energy of the Cloud-Jade Isle was no longer something he had to drag into his body; it rushed toward him like a waterfall, pouring into his meridians with effortless hunger.
The speed... it's at least five times faster than before!
Trembling with a mixture of terror and joy, Hanyuan reached into his storage bag and pulled out the talent testing stone,the smooth, gray obsidian slab Elder Huo had gifted him. He pressed his bloodstained hand against the cold surface.
Ripples of light appeared on the stone, vibrant and intense.
One star. Two. Five. Six...
The light didn't slow down.
Seven. Eight.
Eight white stars shined with a brilliant, freezing radiance that illuminated the entire hut. Beneath them, a second row ignited in a sharp, crackling violet.
Five. Six. Seven.
"Eight star Ice... seven star Lightning," Hanyuan whispered, his voice trembling.
He stood up, his bones popping with a newfound density. He clenched his fist, and for the first time, he didn't feel like he was fighting against a current. He was the current.
Ten months until the next competition, Hanyuan thought, his obsidian eyes burning with a cold, terrifying fire. Before, I was just hoping to survive. Now...
He looked at his Spear, which seemed to hum in agreement.
Now, I'm coming for the Top Ten.
Hanyuan stepped out into the crisp mountain air, the world looking sharper and more vibrant than it ever had. With his hair damp and his body clad in a fresh, snow white disciple robe, he felt like a blade that had just been quenched in the finest oil. Every breath he drew seemed to feed the vortex in his Dantian effortlessly.
Eight star Ice, seven star Lightning...
The thought made his lips curl into a confident smirk. For the first time, he looked at his Spear and wondered about the future. Up until now, he had focused solely on Ice element techniques, fearing that dividing his attention between two elements would make him a "jack of all trades, master of none" given his previous 5 star talent. But with seven stars in Lightning, a secondary path had opened.
Lightning for speed, Ice for lethality, Hanyuan mused. If I can weave them together, the spear will truly become a nightmare.
As he walked toward the central plaza, the peace of his internal thoughts was shattered by a frantic, high pitched shout.
"Idiot! Stay still and face me! I know you're hiding behind that pillar, Qin Yu!"
Hanyuan stopped as he watched a familiar sight. Qin Yu, his robes flapping in the wind, was sprinting toward him as if a beast were snapping at his heels. Behind him, her face flushed a vivid red,partly from exertion and partly from sheer irritation,was Zhao Yao. She brandished her saber with an intensity that promised a very painful "sparring" session.
The moment Qin Yu spotted Hanyuan, his eyes lit up with the desperation of a drowning man.
"Brother Hanyuan! My savior!" Qin Yu gasped, he came to a halt and practically dived behind Hanyuan's back. He grabbed Hanyuan's shoulders, peering over them at the approaching girl. "Where have you been? I haven't been able to find you for three weeks! I thought you had been eaten by a Beast or kidnapped by a wandering demon!"
Hanyuan chuckled, placing a steadying hand on his friend's arm. "Not kidnapped, Brother Yu. Just busy. I took a long term mission and helped Elder Huo, and things got... intense."
"I don't care about the cauldron!" Zhao Yao shouted as she arrived, panting heavily. Her emerald eyes flared as she jabbed her finger at Qin Yu. "You! We are dueling! Now! I won't have you running away from a rematch ever again!"
Qin Yu shivered, clutching Hanyuan tighter. "Hanyuan, save me. Let's go to the Myriad Herb Forest. A mission! We need to do a joint mission! Surely you're free now, right?"
"A mission?" Zhao Yao's voice lowered, a glint in her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Fine. If you're too much of a coward for the arena, I'll join your mission. At least then I can see how you fight when the stakes are real."
Qin Yu's jaw dropped. "Wait, no! That's not what I meant"
Hanyuan gently disentangled himself from Qin Yu's grip. He looked at the two people.
"I'm afraid I'll have to decline, Brother Yu," Hanyuan said, his voice becoming serious.
Both Qin Yu and Zhao Yao blinked in surprise.
"I have decided to enter closed door cultivation," Hanyuan continued. "I will not be leaving my stone hut until the day the next Outer Disciple Competition begins."
Qin Yu's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "What? But Hanyuan, the competition is nine months away! You plan to spend nearly a year in total isolation?"
Hanyuan nodded, his obsidian eyes drifting toward the soaring peaks of the Inner Sect. "The 6th Layer isn't enough. Not even the 7th. I intend to step onto that arena at the 8th Layer, and if my luck is good, I'll be touching the threshold of the 9th. I cannot afford to waste another day."
He looked at Zhao Yao, who was staring at him with a mix of surprise and newfound respect. He offered her a knowing wink,a signal that he was handing her a golden opportunity. "Brother Yu, you have a new friend to keep you company. Don't let her boredom get the best of her while I'm gone. Spend some time together on those missions."
Zhao Yao's face went from pale to a deep beet red in a second. She coughed awkwardly and turned her head away, but the "look" she gave Hanyuan was one of profound gratitude.
"Hey! Don't leave me with her alone! Hanyuan! Please!"
Qin Yu reached out as Hanyuan began to walk away, his voice echoing across the plaza in a comical whine. Hanyuan didn't look back; he simply raised his hand in a final wave, his laughter trailing in the mountain wind.